Field of the Invention
This invention relates to remote monitoring and data collection of municipal infrastructure such as hydrants. In one of its aspects, the invention relates to a system and method of sensing and gathering data from hydrants. In another of its aspects, the invention relates to a radio frequency communications system that communicates sensed data relating to monitoring hydrants by transferring data packets along a predetermined route. In another of its aspects, the invention relates to monitoring and communication systems, such as for monitoring and reporting various parameters associated with remote data sensing of municipal infrastructure. In another of its aspects, the invention relates to a wireless radio frequency communication system for transferring commands and data between elements of an integrated data sensing and gathering system and a municipal monitor server. In yet another of its aspects, the invention relates to a method for wireless communication between remotely spaced data collecting units located at hydrants and remotely spaced data communicating units over predetermined paths. In still another of its aspects, the invention relates to a method for transferring commands and data between various geographically related data collecting and communicating units and a central control server using a wireless radio frequency system. The invention further relates to an internet protocol server, configured to receive datagrams for communicating with geographically dispersed communications and monitoring units. Further, the invention relates to detector-based monitoring of the fluid level and the nozzle caps of hydrants to generate data that is communicated by a radio frequency communications system to a central server.
Description of the Related Art
Collection of data relating to the sensed status or condition of urban, suburban or rural municipal infrastructure in a central location from remote sources is a common practice. The collection methods have evolved from manual collection and written reports to electronic reports gathered manually or electronically. Collection of data electronically in urban areas where wireless Internet access is abundant is common but is more difficult and expensive in suburban or rural areas where Internet access is unavailable or otherwise expensive to use.
A number of systems for electronic sensing and collection of data relating to the status of municipal infrastructure have been devised. For example, Canadian Patent Application No. 2,154,433 to Parisi et al. discloses a freeze and water detector for use in detecting frost or freezing temperatures and water accumulation in the lower part of a fire hydrant. The detector has a detector that includes a float and magnet combination, a thermostat and an electrical circuit to indicate the presence of water and near-freezing temperatures inside the fire hydrant. The reference discloses a visual indicator mounted in a casing on the exterior of the fire hydrant.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2010/0295672 to Hyland et al. discloses an infrastructure monitoring system. In one example, to provide real-time information to fire departments, pressure meters may be attached to a fire hydrant to monitor and report pressure losses throughout a water infrastructure system. In another example, a tamper detector such as a motion detector, a contact detector, a rotation detector, a touch detector, a proximity detector or a resistance detector may be provided on a fire hydrant to detect the presence of an object that may indicate tampering of the fire hydrant. When the tamper detector detects an event, the tamper detector may send a message to a processor that will relay the message to an operations center wirelessly for the evaluation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,816,072 to Zoratti discloses a detection and signaling apparatus mountable to a fire hydrant and which includes a cap mountable on a discharge nozzle, a cap movement detector mounted to a discharge nozzle cap, and a transmitter for transmitting a tamper detection signal remotely from the fire hydrant. Movement of the cap relative to the fire hydrant activates the cap movement detector that generates an output signal. The transmitter sends an output signal received through an antenna located at a remote host such as a central utility site or an emergency response network. A pressure detector can also be coupled to the transmitter to sense water supply main pressure and water flow through the fire hydrant.
In addition, there have also been various disclosures in the area of multi-hop node-to-node communications system and methods. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,242,317 to Silvers discloses well data and production control commands transmitted from a customer server to gas and well monitors at remote locations with signals that hop from well monitor to well monitor through a radio frequency (RF) network.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,842,430 to Melnick discloses a packet-hopping wireless network for automatic building controls functions relating to lighting, HVAC and security in which data are communicated by transferring data packets from node-to-node over a common RF channel. Each of the individual nodes is preferably programmed to perform the step of comparing its own logical address to a routing logical address contained in each packet which it receives, and to either discard, re-transmit, or process the packet based upon the results of the comparison. The routing logical address contained in a received packet contains the full routing information required to route the packet from a sending node to a destination node along a communication path prescribed by the routing logical address.
All of the references discussed in this section are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.